About Our School
We're ready for tomorrow.
At Greens Farms Academy (GFA) we empower students to do the hard, thrilling, essential work of shaping their own world, of building their own future. More than 700 PreK–12 students come from 23 towns in Fairfield and Westchester counties and form an inclusive community that plays on 64 interscholastic athletic teams, participates in a robust service learning program, and aspires to live by our school's motto, "Each for All."
The prestigious academic program is built around small class sizes (average 15), mentoring partnership with faculty (8:1 student to teacher ratio), and Signature Programs (World Perspectives, STEAM, and Human Ecology and Sustainability) spanning all grades.
We’re ready for joy and wonder, for complexity and nuance, for developing and revising and applying new ideas. We’re ready to strengthen the connection between body and mind, to explore uncharted territory, to set ambitious goals—and find the courage to meet them.
GFA Almanac: Eight Things That Make Us Who We Are
1. Our Motto (and the way we live up to it)
Our motto, in English, is “Each for all.” We live up to it by lifting each other up. This is a school where everyone—students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni—is seen, and known, and valued. This is a place where you can be your full self—and where everyone supports you as you change and grow. We work across generations, across differences, and beyond stereotypes. The result is a powerful, and empowering, community.
2. Our Faculty
Setting modesty aside for a moment: They’re amazing. They’re smart, they’re compassionate, they love what they do, and they’re always looking for ways to make education more alive. They take seriously our mission to be partners with students and parents in the education of children. Most of all, they’re human: soulful and surprising, generous and goofy, open-hearted and multi-dimensional. They see—and honor—the humanity of their students.
3. Our very real commitment to innovation
Our Lower School students wear uniforms, many of our Middle and Upper School classes gather around a Harkness Table, and we have a school crest that seems to have come from the Middle Ages. And yet: We do not stand still. We experiment. We take bold steps (see #4 and #6!) in response to the needs of our students and to the demands of the wider world. We’re not trendy; we’re relevant, engaged, and looking forward.
4. Inquiries and Advanced Inquiries
We developed Upper School Inquiries and Advanced Inquiries by asking: What do students need to be ready for tomorrow? They need global vision and global experience. They need the capacity to solve cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural problems. They need the skills to understand — and transform — the ways in which humans interact with the natural world. And so, from PreK–Grade 12, we offer coursework and programming that allows students to explore topics in greater depth than they would in traditional courses, working alongside faculty mentors to gain a new skill or new knowledge about a topic that is not covered in the curriculum. This is paradigm-shifting work.
7. The Greens Farms Metro-North stop
More than 200 students arrive here every morning and, in a lively procession, walk a few hundred yards to school. The ride can be both social and studious, a bonding ritual and a mark of independence. The stop itself is a metaphor for who we are: A school that’s connected to the world. A community that comes together every morning, bringing different histories and experiences, ready to discover what’s possible.
5. Our campus
It’s a 44-acre working lab, situated on three ecosystems: a salt marsh, Audubon woodlands, and Long Island Sound. The views are breathtaking. There’s tradition here, starting with a magnificent Gilded Age mansion. But the future is here, too. There’s a stunning new Performing Arts Center, including a state-of-the-art theater, a scene/STEAM shop, and a Global Studies Center—all topped by solar panels and a living roof. There’s also a squash center, a new wrestling gym, and a sparkling new fitness center. What matters most is that when you come here, you feel like you belong.
8. You belong at GFA
At GFA, the unique nature of our PreK–12 school offers meaningful opportunities that foster a sense of inclusion and belonging. Cross-divisional events such as GFA Voices, an evening where GFA students and families share the rich dimension behind family stories, student affinity groups that strengthen bonds between middle and upper schoolers, and our annual apple-picking tradition with Kindergarteners and Seniors bring this all full circle. Each student has a voice and a place here.
6. Our new schedule
Tomorrow’s school shouldn’t be bound by yesterday’s routines. We re-engineered our schedule to make our time together more flexible, more collaborative, and more productive. A few examples: Upper School classes that meet three times a week, in 65-minute periods. Intensive mini-term courses where students and teachers explore a single topic in depth. This is a school week built for the future.
Our Mission Drives Everything We Do
GFA engages students as partners in an innovative, inclusive, and globally minded community to prepare them for lives of purpose.
We are proud that "Quisque pro Omnibus — Each for All" is our school motto. From PreK through 12th grade, a sense of responsibility and empathy threads through our community. We know that in these times, young people are grappling with big questions. Our mission is to help students become the best they can be by instilling our core values of passion, integrity, empathy, curiosity and excellence.
Philosophy
Partners: Our students collaborate with teachers to develop their voices to effect change, to become lifelong learners who take ownership of their educations, and to have an instinct for self-reflection that builds character and drives improvement.
Innovative: Building on a demanding curriculum, our faculty seeks innovative and effective methods to help students cultivate the skills and habits of mind necessary to excel.
Inclusive: GFA strives to create a diverse community that values the identities, perspectives, and experiences of all its members.
Globally Minded: We empower our students to discover their place in the world and help them to become globally competent citizens engaged in building a sustainable future.
Core Values
Passion
Integrity
Empathy
Curiosity
Excellence